TikToker Goes Viral Pointing Out Wild Twilight Theories
TikTok user twilight_talk has gone viral over the past year for posting her wild theories about the Twilight saga. The TikToker, going by the pseudonym Elizabeth, says she was inspired to start her TikTok series after Stephanie Meyer released Midnight Sun in 2020. Then when the Twilight movies were released on Netflix, Elizabeth says, “things really blew up. I went from 50,000 followers to 150,000 followers in just a couple of weeks because people were seeing the movies for the first time in a very long time.” Now, twilight_talk has over 244k followers, all gained in just a year.
Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry Inspires Fellow WriteGirls
Amanda Gorman’s first poetry collection Call Us What We Carry was just released earlier this week, but already the collection has been a major inspiration to many. Among those who are most inspired by Gorman’s work are mentees of the WriteGirl creative writing program, of which Gorman herself was once a mentee. “Hearing her say those kinds of words of inspiration, but also acknowledge her place in this really complicated system” was significant and forced people to remember a “history of America that not a lot of people want to remember,” writer Sofía Aguilar, also a former WriteGirl, told USA TODAY. WriteGirl is a nonprofit organization, founded by Keren Taylor in 2001, that matches more than 500 young girls annually with fellow writers to help them hone their writing skills across all genres. The program also hosts workshops, panel discussions, and events to help young girls from inner cities find their creative spark.
Over 600 Authors, Publishers, and Groups Condemn Book Bans
On Wednesday, over 600 best-selling authors, publishers, bookstore owners, and advocacy groups spoke out against the recent wave of LGBTQ- and race-related book bans in public school libraries across the country. In a joint statement, led by the National Coalition Against Censorship, the signatories called the effort to ban the books an “organized political attack” that “threatens the education of America’s children.” Included in the signatures were more than 50 independent bookstores, 80 advocacy groups, publishing companies including Penguin Random House and Scholastic, and authors including Judy Blume. Author Kelly Yang signed on to the statement after her children’s novel Front Desk was challenged by school administrators. Yang said, “We finally made this great progress and the fact that this can be so easily wiped out by these book bans, and to have all of these books be pulled and in some cases burned, it sort of feels like an existential crisis. It just feels like we could be erased at any moment, and that’s a dehumanizing feeling.”
Here Are the Winners of the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021
The votes are in! Goodreads has announced the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021 winners.